Data are critical for understanding the needs of students, caregivers, and school staff. While personal perspectives and insights are invaluable resources, the collection of quantitative and qualitative data provides educators with a more complete picture of individuals’ needs, interests, and experiences.
With tools like Elevate, Catalyze, and Cultivate from PERTS and the University of Chicago, these data can be used to adjust policies and practices as needed. When teachers have access to student experience data and are given the opportunity to regularly review student feedback, they are then able to make decisions about their practice that are informed by students’ actual wants and needs. Similarly, when schools consider measures of organizational conditions they can optimize professional learning and practice changes based on what educators are experiencing.
